*JOSEPHUS DANIELS: HIS LIFE AND TIMES, BOOK DISCUSSION.8/28, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: US Navy Memorial. Speaker: Lee Craig, Author, Josephus Daniels. As a longtime leader of the Democratic Party and key member of Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, Josephus Daniels was one of the most influential progressive politicians in the country, and as secretary of the navy during the First World War, he became one of the most important men in the world.*THE US-RUSSIA RELATIONSHIP: WHAT NEXT? 8/28, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Brookings Institution. Speakers: Clifford Gaddy, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Global Economy and Development, Center on the US and Europe; Angela Stent, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center on the US and Europe; Steven Pifer, Director, Arms Control Initiative.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The following essay by James Gibney, a member of Bloomberg View's editorial board and an APP member, appeared on Bloomberg View on August 20, 2013. Follow him on Twitter.

So far, President Barack Obama has yet to call the coup that ousted Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi a coup, or to cut off U.S. military aid to its increasingly autocratic and brutal regime. As Obama put it in his statement last Thursday, "Given the depths of our partnership with Egypt, our national security interest in this pivotal part of the world and our belief that engagement can support a transition back to a democratically elected civilian government, we've sustained our commitment to Egypt and its people." A murmured consensus says that the U.S. can't afford to sacrifice the advantages of its security relationship -- military overflight rights, priority for U.S Navy ships at the Suez Canal, intelligence cooperation and upholding peace with Israel -- in order to stand up for democratic principles.

There's a cautionary counterpoint to this realist catechism, and it comes from an episode frequently, and mistakenly, cited as an unqualified policy success: the U.S. occupation of Japan.

The short, happy version of the nearly seven-year occupation history is that a magnanimous U.S. occupying force led by supremo Douglas MacArthur thoroughly transformed a defeated Japan into a model democracy and staunch ally. The behavior of current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, however, is a reminder that there's more to the story. Abe's nationalist rhetoric, his unyielding prosecution of territorial quarrels and his penchant for revisionist history about the war flow in part from a fateful occupation-era U.S. choice.

It was called the "reverse course": Roughly two years after the occupation began in 1945, U.S. policy-makers concerned about the developing Cold War and the spread of communism in Asia dropped the emphasis on "demilitarization and democratization" in favor of building up Japan's economy, restoring its conservative political establishment and, eventually, rearming it. As numerous scholars have documented -- including John Dower in his Pulitzer Prize-winning occupation history "Embracing Defeat" -- the purging of war criminals and militarists gave way to the purging of leftists.

Beneficiaries included Abe's grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, one of 19 Class A war criminal suspects released as a result of the policy u-turn, who went on to become prime minister. Losers included outspoken left-leaning journalists, academics and trade unionists. With the onset of the Korean War, the U.S. largely abandoned efforts to reform Japan's corporate and financial structure in favor of bolstering the economy, not least its ability to supply U.S. forces in Korea. As Dower writes, "The political and ideological rationale behind the economic 'reverse course' ... was to ensure Japan's emergence as a strong anticommunist bastion, and this necessarily entailed support of the most conservative and corporatist elements in Japanese society -- and, as it happened, the continued American parenting of [Japan's] 'abnormal' market economy."

We all know how that worked out: Among other results, it birthed an export juggernaut operating behind a formidable wall of tariff and non-tariff barriers. The U.S. reliance on Japanese ministries to carry out occupation directives reinforced Japan's bureaucracies, and its support for Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (including slush money from the CIA) helped to entrench the LDP's stultifying one-party rule.

Of course, Japan's people and their leaders were hardly passive spectators in this process. And who's to say what modern Japan would look like if the U.S. had had the courage of its founders' convictions and persevered with its democratic reforms? My opinion is that the world would be a better place if it had. Certainly Abe's revisionist views of the war, with all their dangerous belligerence, would be less likely to take root. Now, in Egypt, the U.S. decision to sacrifice democracy on the altar of realism seems likely once again to yield an inferior result.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

August 21st is the 30th anniversary of the assassination of former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., In The Philippines Ninoy Aquino Day is a national non-working holiday in the Philippines observed annually on August 21. His People Power Revolution returned democracy to The Philippines. Along with his wife, former President Corazon Aquino, the two are regarded as heroes of democracy in the country. Ninoy is the father of current President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. To commemorate this day,

THE PHILIPPINES EMBASSY INVITES YOU

to a free screening of

A Dangerous Life

Romulo Hall

Philippine Embassy

20 August 2013, Tuesday

5:00 PM

click for more

A Dangerous Lifeis a 1988 English-language film about the final years of the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos’ rule, from the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr. in 1983 to the People Power Revolution of 1986. Originally a TV mini-series, it has been edited to a 162 minute home video. Gary Busy plays a TV journalist who cover the Aquino assasination. Performing various roles in the 162-minute movie are Filipino artists Ruben Rustia, Laurice Guillen, Tessie Tomas, Jaime Fabregas, Dinna Bonnevie, Johnny Delgado, Rez Cortez, and Noel Trinidad.

EMERGENCE OF NEW DONORS IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL AID. 8/22, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Speaker: Shoko Yamada, Associate Professor of International Development and Educational Policy Studies, Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University.

IN THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE: BOOK LAUNCH. 8/22, 12:30-2:00pm. Sponsor: Info Shop, World Bank. Speakers: Nicholas Manning, Adviser, Public Sector Governance, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, World Bank; John Wallis, Book editor, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Maryland; Steven Webb, Book Editor, Consultant, World Bank; Philip Keefer, Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank.

Monday, August 12, 2013

August 14th is the anniversary of the first former comfort woman, Kim Hak-soon, to speak publicly about her ordeal. She detailed how she was forced to carry ammunition for Japanese soldiers by day and serve as a prostitute at a military-run brothel by night at age 17.

Whether she was abducted professional traffickers or sold by her parents--by 1991 her traumatized memory could be excused--the result was the same. She was a sex slave robbed of her free will because the Imperial Japanese government organized and managed the procurement of sex for its troops. This was wrong then, and is wrong now.

Former UN Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Karin Chowdhury, who attended the meeting on the issue August 11, said Kim is “a global symbol” who has helped raise international awareness and support for her cause. Chowdhury, who was behind a landmark 2000 UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on the rights of women and children in conflict, said he would support a campaign for a UN memorial day.

Ros-Lehtinen

At a July 17th program on Capitol Hill celebrating the 6th anniversary of passage of the US House of Representatives Resolution 121 calling on the Government of Japan to officially and unequivocally apologize to the Comfort Women, many of the Members of Congress attending spoke out in support of UN day of remembrance. Such as Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), pictured to the right, who is holding a flyer supporting the August 14th movement.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE: NEW TOOLS FOR MESSY TRANSITIONS? 8/13, 9:30 - 11:00am. Sponsor: Stimson Center. Speakers: Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction; James Schear, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Partnership Strategy and Stability Operations; William Durch, Stimson Senior Associate and Co-director, Future of Peace Operations Program.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE AND RESILIENCE. 8/14, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Center for American Progress. Speaker: Maya Soetoro-Ng, Writer [Ladder to the Moon], step-sister of President Barak Obama and Spoken word performance with Omékongo Dibinga, spoken word artist. They will address the importance of ending trafficking and exploitation of women and children. Dr. Soetoro-Ng is the author of the children's book featured to the left.

VICTORY AT BESSANG PASS: BOOK LAUNCH AND RECEPTION. 8/14, 5:00 - 7:00pm. Sponsors: Embassy of the Philippines, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Migrant Heritage Commission. Speaker: Ben Cal, Author, Victory at Bessang Pass. [It was at Bessang Pass that the Filipino guerrillas defeated the Japanese troops led by Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita that forced the latter, whose nom de guerre is “Tiger of Malaya,” to surrender. The final battle at Bessang Pass between the Filipino guerrillas and Japanese forces lasted for almost six months — from January to June 1945 — before the Filipinos conquered the strategic mountain fortress on June 14, 1945.]

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Today, August 4th, is the 20th Anniversary of the Kono Statement, Japan's unofficial apology to the women and men who served as sex slaves to Japan's military and their contractors. It is a statement of acknowledgement, it asks for forgiveness, and uses clear apology language. It was followed up by a program of atonement, the Asia Women's Fund.

Unfortunately, all the good intentions of this apology were undermined by Japanese denier politics. The apology was publicized, yet it was never approved by the Cabinet and, thus, was never an official governmental statement. This was driven home by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his first term where he issued a Cabinet Decision affirming that the Kono Statement had never been approved by the Cabinet. The atonement fund did not draw funds from the public treasury--where the "salaries" of many Comfort Women still remained--but from private individuals. The contemporary Japanese state took no responsibility, other than to "administer" the fund, much like Imperial Japan administered the Comfort Women system.

In 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives began to take notice of this historic injustice. It echoed so many international conflicts in which women and children were the main victims; where sexual violence was a rationalized norm. The international community was fast accepting that this "norm" of warfare was an unconscionable crime.

The personal anger and humiliation of the victims being voiced in the new democracies of Asia highlighted the failure of a responsible, appropriate apology by a modern Japan. Time did not bury the pain. Time, in this case, provided the scholarship and knowledge that rape is a form of power and is a crime. Time only seemed to stand still for Japan's leaders.

Congress awakened to the issue of the Comfort Women through an understanding of the consequences of the many assaults on women's dignity worldwide. To learn more, members of congress reached out to the victims and scholars for briefings and information.

On Shinzo Abe's birthday, September 21, 2006, and a few days before Abe would become Prime Minister, Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL) hosted a press conference and briefing on the Comfort Women issue and a resolution he was sponsoring, the precursor to the 2007 H. Res. 121, asking Japan for an official apology to the Comfort Women.

Among the speakers were Congressman Edward Royce (R-CA). His prepared and presented remarks, as you can see below, were the most eloquent and insightful of the day. Representative Royce is now Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

Rep Ed Royce
(R-CA)

Comfort Women
Briefing

9/21/06

The Imperial Government of Japan orchestrated the
enslavement of up to 200,000 young women.
Many of these women were abducted from their homes and sent to Japanese Military
brothels. Others were lured from their
homes under the false pretense of work or employment. Of course, they found neither.

The trauma and shame that these women suffered drove many to
conceal their past, either too embarrassed or scared to speak of it. Many died without ever mentioning their
ordeal, suffering in silence and psychological angst.

To this day, Japan
maintains that all potential claims by individuals for sufferings inflicted in
the war were closed years ago, by treaties normalizing its ties with other
Asian countries. Clearly, many feel
differently. The Korean Council for the
Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery in Japan
and groups of former comfort women continue to hold demonstrations outside of
the Japanese Embassy in Seoul
every week, rain or shine. They have
done so since 1992.

Still, the Japanese government continues to deny these women
the full recognition they deserve.

But that is why we are here today. Those here recognize that confronting this
issue is the right thing to do. Those of
us in Congress are taking action to see that the Japanese government confronts
this dark part of the history of Imperial Japan. Recently, the House International Relations
Committee, on which I, Chairman Chris Smith, and Ambassador Watson serve,
passed out of committee H. Res. 759, the Japanese Comfort Women Resolution, a
bill that I am proud to have cosponsored.
This resolution calls on the Japanese government to formally acknowledge
and take full responsibility for their sexual enslavement of thousands of young
women.

Some have asked me why do this now? Certainly time has passed. Yesterday my Committee held a hearing on the
killing in Darfur, Sudan. What we have there is genocide being
conducted by the Sudanese government.
Much of the world, sadly, is ignoring this killing. The Chinese government is blocking
sanctions. The world's strength to
oppose killing today is made greater by accountability, for actions present,
but also past. It's weakened by denial
of accountability and obfuscation of past acts.
History is a continuum that affects today and tomorrow. It's much harder to get tomorrow right if we
get yesterday wrong.

No one is here. Congress is in summer recess until September 9th and thus everyone leaves town for a summer vacation. Few Washington organizations dare hold programs in August; unless they want them to be way under the radar.

THE QUADRENNIAL DEFENSE REVIEW: UNITED STATES AIR FORCE. 8/6, 1:30-2:30pm. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Maj. Gen. Steven Kwast, director of the Air Force Quadrennial Defense Review; and David Berteau, senior vice president and director of the International Security Program at CSIS.

About Us

APP is a Washington research center studying the U.S. policy relationship with Northeast Asia. We provide factual context and informed insight on Asian science, finance, politics, security, history, and public policy.